Panel plugins: how developers debug step by step the code?

I would like to start developing a panel plugin, I already gathered some information and had a look at some source code.

I know it is possible to start a debug session of xfce4-panel and then using gdb commands to see the stack, set breakpoints, ecc ...

My question concerns if developers debug the code step by step using any IDE such as Eclipse or Netbeans and how it is possibile to configure it in order to attach the GDB - IDE controlled - to a running session of xfce4-panel. As far as I know the majority of plugins are 'internal'.